


Garden

by waterbird13



Series: Tumblr Fics [478]
Category: The Martian - All Media Types
Genre: Gen, What Comes Next, back on earth, introspective, post Mars
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-06-15
Updated: 2017-06-15
Packaged: 2018-11-14 07:17:27
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 693
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11203101
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/waterbird13/pseuds/waterbird13
Summary: Mark gets himself a piece of property in Texas, big enough for a proper garden.





	Garden

Mark sighs and bends over to pull a weed. His back gives him shit for it, protesting the position. Apparently it’s always going to do that now. Something about doing damage in low gravity and then continuing to do damage and never letting it heal just right. Whether it was hauling rocks or dirt or sleeping in that damned rover or the rover mods or the airlock blowing or the rover rolling, they’ll never know. His back aches now.

Chris would give him shit if he saw Mark stressing his back like this, but hey, weeds need to be pulled, and someone has to do it.

The weed satisfactorily pulled, Mark looks around critically for any more encroaching on his crops.

He grows most of his own vegetables these days. Well, he grows far more than he needs, truth be told, given his own skill and dedication to his garden, not to mention the space he has, but it had taken him two seasons to convince himself to stop canning and stockpiling food. Now his neighbors and the local food pantry reap the benefits. Sometimes his students, or his friends if they stop by for a visit.

He also has flower patches now, beautiful bright spots of color that would never grow on a dusty planet. Not particularly helpful on the food front, no, but the bees like them, and Mark likes the bees, so it’s a win-win, all around.

He might start keeping bees. It would be a lot of work, but it’s good for the environment and would be great for his gardens. Not to mention, he has a sweet tooth again. It took some time, after potatoes and bland meal packs, but some honey in his tea wouldn’t go amiss.

It’s not like he doesn’t already have animals. Beth got him his first rabbit, for reasons unknown to anyone else. They don’t do much–Mark doesn’t eat rabbit, and unless the zombie apocalypse hits, he’s not going to start–but they’re cute and they are calming in their own way. The chickens had been next, and those little peckers are far from calming some days, but they do make eggs. Chicken and rabbit shit is great fertilizer.

Rick jokes he’s going to become a farmer and add cows next. The land isn’t big enough, though, not by a long shot. Sure, it’s a big yard, way bigger than anything Mark’s personally owned before, but it’s still just under two acres. He can see his neighbor’s house from here.

Just the way he likes it. People nearby to remind him he’s not alone, but no one crowding in, pushing in in ways his body and mind have just mostly forgotten how to handle.

The press know where he lives, but for the most part they leave him alone now. Old news, Mark supposes. It’s a good thing. When Ares V launches, they might come back, but Mark hopes maybe this time they can skip him.

There’s a few tomatoes falling off the stem into his hands, red and ripe and juicy. The orange tomatoes are taking their sweet time about coming in, and Mark frowns. That’s too bad. They’re sweeter.

It’s nice, to be picky about his produce.

He checks the flowers next, frowns. There’s something he’s supposed to remember.

His neighbor. Mrs. O'Conlin. Her birthday is tomorrow, and Mark wanted to give her a gift.

He gets his pruning shears and starts cutting some stems. He’d prefer to give her a plant, still living and breathing and growing, but she’s killed the last three he’s tried that with, and he can afford to give her a few of his flowers. They are really pretty. She’ll probably like them.

He ties them together with ribbon, strategically saved from last Christmas’ gifts, then sets them in water to wait for later in the afternoon, when she gets home from work, and heads outside to check on the animals.

On his way to the chicken coop, it starts to rain, a light drizzle. Mark just smiles and keeps walking, letting the drops dampen and then soak his shirt as they water his crops.


End file.
